Guerilla Drive-In

Just wanted to give a shout out to John Young and the chaps at The Note for having us over for September's Guerilla Drive-in Movie. This month was Cannonball Run II and it did not disappoint. I had no idea there were so many stars in that film. We were supposed to watch it over at the Marsh Creek Speedway, but got rained out. If you haven't heard of the Guerilla Drive-in, check out the rules here, read John's blog here, and hope to see you for next month's film.

Thanks John!

PS: Rumor had it that Dr. Zibbs was gonna be there. But as far as I know, he was a no-show. Hummm, I'm starting to wonder if he really exists? Or maybe he just has a terrible facial deformity that he's trying to hide.

Here's a pic from my phone with the stage in back.

BANGO!

The wait is over. Finally Bango is available to any one who decides to view it. Are you ready for action? Adventure? Love? Betrayal? and Forgiveness? Do you have 10 minutes of your life to spare? Do you love cowboys with bad teeth and a penchant for ripping off their shirts? Do you like drunk hobos and chase scenes? Do you have a soft spot in you heart for a gorilla with a short fuse?

Then you are ready to watch the single greatest love story of our time. Directed by yours truly and filmed on the streets of Dub-C in the summer of 1999, Bango is a existential swath through the town of West Chester, PA (Long before Bam, before imitation gorillas ran the brick-laden streets unlicensed and before people in West Chester decided to make their own gorilla suits.) It is the brain child of 5 inebriated 20-somethings with a camera and a lot of time on their hands. And if you look close, you will see my cameo at Jitters.

Without further ado I bring you...

Bango!

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Trailer

Finally our first look at the new movie!

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

I heard about this a while back and now it's finally being released. Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame is back with a documentary (due out April 10th, 2008) about his trek to the Middle East to do what GWB couldn't do: find Bin Laden.

Well, did he? Who knows, I guess we'll have to pay our $8.50 to find out.

I'm in Like with Daniel Day-Lewis

On Sunday Beeps and I went to see "There Will Be Blood" starring Mr. Daniel Day-Lewis. I was never a big fan of his work. I thought he was probably a pretty good actor. He often looks crazy and disheveled at award shows and in public. I saw bits and pieces of "Gangs of NY" and his roll was kinda cheesy. I never saw "Last of the Mohicans" but I heard that it was good. Beeps likes him in "The Crucible." But that's all I know. However, after seeing his performance in "There Will Be Blood" I'm not sure I will ever see a finer actor.

If you don't know the story, it takes place in the southwest at the turn of the century. Day-Lewis plays oil tycoon Daniel Plainview, who is slowly taken over by greed and mental illness. There is also a parallel story about a young evangelist preacher and his own greedy path to righteousness. But the preacher story almost doesn't matter based on Day-Lewis' performance. This movie truly was a character study on Plainview and there may as well have been no other characters in the film. Plainview had probably 95% of the lines in the film and he delivered them with such realism and precision. And in the moments where he did not speak (There were no words spoken in probably the first 20 minutes of the film) you could read his body language like he was screaming it from a rooftop.

At moments in the story you care so deeply for Day-Lewis' character while knowing full well that you are unaware of his true intentions. You finally get your answers at the very end when everything is revealed in a fire storm of rage, drool, and blood.

Drool you ask? Yes, this is what actually convinced me that Day-Lewis is the finest actor EVER. Did you hear me? EVER! Once you see it you will know what I mean. I am 100% sure that he will win this year's Oscar based on his performance in this film.

Be sure to catch it before the Academy Awards show (assuming there is one). And you can thank me later.

I'm in Like with Bruce Lee

The other day I was home alone and therefor had complete control over what I wanted to watch on TV. Unfortunately for me there was nothing on. So I spent many minutes just surfing the channels and watching a few seconds of this or that. Until I came upon the Movie "Enter the Dragon" staring Mr. Bruce Lee.
It was on the IFC Channel so there were no commercials and it was uncut.

I never really liked Kung Fu movies even though growing up that was the only thing on Sunday afternoons. And I never watched a Bruce Lee movie, so I thought "what the hey, I'll check it out."

I have to say that I loved this movie.

It was nothing like I expected. It was chocked full of 70s campiness: Afros, polyester, drug use, and bad acting. If you haven't seen it, it's about a martial arts expert (Lee) who is recruited to infiltrate a drug operation under the guise of taking part in an invitational martial arts competition sponsored by Han, the one handed crime boss. And when I say one handed, I mean it, the guy literally has different claw hands that he takes off and on. Anyway, this movie is like a cross between "Dr. No", "Mortal Kombat" (the movie, not the game), and "Shaft". It's good fun, lots of fighting, espionage, and jive talkin'.

Anyway, I recommend it. Plus Bruce Lee is H-O-T hot! There's something about Bruce Lee that I like. I think it's the fact that he's in great shape, knows not to take himself too seriously, and can kick your ass in a millisecond. The guy is just fun to watch. During the movie he makes these mime-like facial expressions that are just hilarious. He's kinda like a vaudevillian ninja.

Apparently the Chinese are massive fans of Lee and "Enter the Dragon" was the only film he made in the US that really turned Americans on to his talents. Unfortunately he died just before its release.

What's funny is that up until about 10 minutes ago, I always had these misconceptions about Bruce Lee. About who he was an how he died. So I'll share some facts that I found interesting.

JDizzle's Fact: Bruce Lee was born in China.
Truth: Bruce Lee was born in Jackson Street Hospital in San Francisco, CA.

JDizzle's Fact: Bruce Lee didn't speak English, thus his movies were dubbed and JDizzle doesn't like dubbed movies.
Truth: Bruce Lee was born here and thus speaks perfect English dumb ass, as well as Cantonese.

JDizzle's Fact: Bruce Lee died of a gun shot wound in a street fight.
Truth: Bruce Lee died of an accidental pain pill overdose under suspicious circumstances. A friend gave him one prescription pain pill for a headache, he went to bed, and never woke up. He died in Hong Kong of an apparent cerebral edema (swelling of the brain). After much confusion and debate, doctors declared the death of Bruce Lee as "death by misadventure."

"Death by misadventure" sounds like something that would apply to the demise of the Scooby Doo gang.

So there you go. Now go out spread the word and rent this movie.

Holy Crap, It's Almost Wednesday

I just realized that almost a whole week has passed since my last post. It's practically Wednesday already! Well what can I say, I got lazy. Mostly because I had Thursday and Friday off and I just concentrated on having fun. Thursday Beeps and I hit Johnny Brenda's in Philly to see The Capitol Years and Bitter Bitter Weeks.

Friday we ate sushi at my favorite place Kooma here in Dub See and saw that movie "Once". It was great, highly recommend it! We saw it at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville (you know, where the filmed The Blob). Man is that a cool theater. It opened in 1903 and is home to many independent films. The prices are cheap: $7 a ticket and $2 popcorn! Plus the inside is like a flashback to the beginning of the century. Check out the web site for some pictures.

Saturday we cleaned and played video games for a while (I got Viva Pinata and am addicted!). I need to figure out how to attract the horse though, and get the rainbow cloud thingy, so any tips welcome.

Sunday some fellow townies came over for an afternoon picnic and Monday we relaxed and resumed game playing where Beeps dove into Bioshock. That game is fricking frightening; zombies, possessed little girls with giant machine body guards, carnival music and clowns, gene splicing, crazy people climbing on the ceilings, corpses everywhere, and it's all underwater. Freakie deekie.

Well, That's about it. But I'm back folks!

Lot's of Hangover to come. Stay tuned.

Marlon Marathon - On The Waterfront

Last night Beeps and I sat down to watch "On the Waterfront", the next movie in our Marlon Marathon. I know I was supposed to post "Streetcar" but we own that one and we really wanted to get "Waterfront" back to NetFlix so we could get "300". Anyway, "Streetcar" will be next I promise.

"On The Waterfront" was directed in 1954 by Elia Kazan and won 8 Academy Awards including Best Actor for Marlon, Best Actress for Eva Marie Saint, Best Director, and Best Picture.
It stars Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy, Karl Malden as Father Barry and Lee Cobb as Johnny Friendly. It's the story of a group of New York longshoremen who are under the power of a corrupt union boss/ mobster (Friendly).

Marlon plays a retired boxer who now works at the docks. His brother Charlie is Johnny Friendly's right-hand man. It starts with Terry arranging a meeting between the mobsters and Joey Doyle. Joey Doyle is accused of singing to the police and is promptly launched from a rooftop to his death. Terry feels bad because he thought they'd just "rough him up a bit".

Joey's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and her priest friend Father Barry, get mad and decide to find out who killed Joey and expose the corruption on the waterfront. They decide to hold a meeting in the basement of the church. A few of the workers show up including Terry who is asked to spy on the meeting for Johnny.

Johnny Friendly gets mad and another dock worker is killed for speaking out.

Terry and Edie fall in love. Terry then receives a subpoena to appear at Johnny Friendly's corruption trial. He now has a decision to make: stay loyal to his brother or sing like a canary and avenge the deaths of his coworkers. Edie is very persuasive and Terry decides to sing. Charlie, his brother, makes one last effort to convince Terry to change his mind and keep quiet. After that doesn't work Charlie turns up dead. Terry is now more enraged than ever and gives very damming testimony against Johnny Friendly at his trial.

Shortly after, while waiting for his sentence, Johnny Friendly and Terry have a big fight on the docks. Terry gets the crap beat out of him by Johnny's gang and is left for dead. This is witnessed by the entire longshoreman union and they rally behind Terry essentially destroying Johnny's power over them. Terry makes a triumphant walk from the dock to the ship, bloodied and beaten, and unaided. The end.

This was a great film. Brandon was perfect. He had many lines and he delivered each of them with sadness and sincerity. The writing was great too. Lots of fun slang and surprise punchlines:

Edie: Shouldn't everybody care about everybody else?
Terry: Boy, what a fruitcake you are!

or

Edie: Which side are you with?
Terry: Me? I'm with me, Terry.

The setting was also beautiful with dingy city rooftops, rain soaked street scenes, dilapidated docks, and hazy New York skylines. Plus there was a great avian metaphor throughout the film: pigeons, hawks, and canaries.

I loved it. My favorite so far. Oh yeah, and Marlon was H-O-T! Even with swollen fighter eyes.

We give it 5 marbles out of 5.

Next up: Streetcar, I promise.